The Hindu : International / India & World : PoK Prime Minister's family awaits reunion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 04, 2005

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International - India & World

PoK Prime Minister's family awaits reunion

Staff Reporter

Pressure by PoK leaders led to opening up of route

MENDHAR (NEAR THE LINE OF CONTROL): The significance of the decision by the leaders of India and Pakistan to further soften the Line of Control by opening up fresh routes can be gauged by the enthusiastic mood of the people here. Almost every family, including that of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, has a relative living on the other side. Mr. Khan belonged to this place before he migrated to the other side in 1947-48.

Many believe that it was the pressure exerted on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf by the political leadership of PoK that paved the way for the opening up of the fresh route along the LoC.

All the political leaders of PoK — largely comprising Rajput Muslims — have their relatives in this belt.

The Hindu got in touch with Mr. Khan's relatives who live close to the LoC. Fifty-nine years back, Mr. Khan married the sister of Talat Sarwar Khan, who came from a Rajput family that continues to live in their ancestral house.

Talat Sarwar Khan's son, Iqbal Sarwar, said that they had last visited Mr. Khan three decades back.

"We were asked to settle down there as all our relatives live across the LoC and hold prized positions in the political establishment. But my father refused because of our attachment to our ancestral land."

They cannot visit their relatives across the LoC even on special occasions and are now waiting to be reunited with their family.

The people from across the LoC started trickling in after the launch of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service. A majority came as their relatives lived here or they originally belonged to this place.

The journey was long and tiring as they had to travel more than 900 km. Syed Akhoon Khan, a retired Urdu Lecturer says, "We were angry as to why the two Governments could not understand that most of the divided families live here and no decision was taken to open this route. The second confidence building measures between the two countries have almost satisfied us as a decision has been taken to open the Poonch-Rawalakot route."

The families here also hope that as Mendhar is the heartland of divided families of the State and almost every family has a relative across the LoC, the Mendhar-Kotli route should also be opened.

Kotli is an important town of PoK where many relatives of the divided families here live.

Due to the porous nature of the LoC before 1989, people here have crossed to the other side at some point. Some of them returned after many years.

Syed Akhoon Khan did his matriculation from across the LoC in a school at Kotli and returned to this side in the late 1950's to settle down in his ancestral home.

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